GENESEO, N.Y. – Twelve SUNY Geneseo students and one alumnus are serving as ambassadors in the college’s Center for Inquiry, Discovery and Development (CIDD) for the 2016-17 school year. The center is a hub for students seeking to collaborate with faculty, individuals and organizations that play critical roles in business, the arts, industry and other fields. CIDD programming encourages students to question past traditional answers to create new or different solutions to local and/or global issues.
It’s the fifth year of the ambassadorship program. Working on the high impact projects builds student confidence, and the ambassadors are required to present their projects to faculty, students and invited guests on GREAT Day in April, which is an annual day-long campus celebration of student work.
Student ambassadorships are awards provided by generous donors to fund individual grants of $5,000 each for ambassadors in varied disciplines to carry out self-directed, transformational projects on campus, within the local community or around the world. Their ambassadorship began this summer and will extend through the school year.
Here’s a list of the 2016-17 ambassadorships and project titles (all home towns are in New York unless otherwise noted):
Frank Vafier ’74 Ambassadors in Leadership (two offered) -- 1) Mallika Shah from Mumbai, India -- “Ancient Indian Performance” 2) Katherine Zaslavsky from Endwell – “Keep the Muslims Out: Understanding Narratives in Both of the Immigration Debates”
James Houston ’80 Ambassador in Innovation – Evan Goldstein from Brewster – “Americana: A Poetic Rediscovery of the Contemporary American Landscape”
Community Advocates Ambassador in Community Engagement – Francesca DiGiorgio from Slingerlands – “Opera Kids: SUNY Geneseo Young Artist Workshop”
Provost’s Ambassador in Diversity – Alex McGrath from Larchmont – “Archiving Yiddish Language of Polish Silesia”
John A. ’87 and MaryGrace ’84 Gleason Ambassador in Student Affairs – Hannah Loo from Flushing – “”TED: Searching for Ideas Worth Spreading”
Edward Pettinella ’73 Ambassador in Business (joint project) – Ben Conard ’16 from East Setauket and Ryan Ockenden from Penfield – “Five North: Changing the Way You Think About Chocolate”
CAS Ambassador in Entrepreneurship – Aubrie Johnsen from Geneseo – “Raising a Community”
Gerard Gouvernet Ambassador in French Language and Culture – Chloe Forsell from Westfield – “Non-White Identity in Western Nations”
Geneseo Alumni Association Ambassador in Philanthropy – Kyle Fletcher from Geneseo – “Exploring Sustainable Economic Development and Resources”
Eddie Lee ’76 First Generation Ambassador – Hershley Nelson from Laurelton – “State of Girl’s Education in Dakar, Senegal in the 21st Century”
Raymond G. Lord III ’11 Ambassador of Disruption – Brendan Mahoney from Kingston, N.H. – “Frankenstein’s Review”
In addition to the ambassadorship program, CIDD provides scholarship opportunities, fellowships and involvement in community well-being.
Media Contact:
David Irwin
(585) 245-5529
Irwin@geneseo.edu